Hearty Beef Stew

This recipe was a special request from one of my Twitter followers, @DianaVitti. Maybe it’s the weather, but as soon as she asked me if I had a good paleo beef stew recipe (I did), I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I bought a big chuck roast to butcher myself into chunks for this stew that very afternoon. Remember that stew is a casual dish, so you don’t need to spend time making sure all your vegetable pieces are the right size or shape. Just give them a rough chop and get them into the pot! It’ll still taste great at the end! Also, if you can find some good grass-fed beef, you would end up not only with a very healthy meal, but also an even tastier one! Grass-fed beef will brown more easily and will be leaner, so reduce the heat somewhat and you may need a bit more cooking fat for this step.

A variation to consider: Sometimes I add 2-3 cups chopped fresh kale for the last 20 minutes of cooking or when I’m reheating the leftovers. It’s a wonderful contrast with the sweet parsnips. If you want a thicker soup, you can spoon out all of the meat and most of the veggies and then puree the remaining veggies into the broth with an immersion blender. I think it’s lovely as is, so I never bother.

1.Preheat oven to 300F.
2.Heat 2 Tbsp coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large oven-safe pot. Add half of the beef to the hot oil and stir frequently until browned. Remove from pot. Brown the other half of the beef. Remove it from the pot too.
3.Add vegetables and garlic to the pot. Add an additional 1 Tbsp oil if needed (this will depend on how fatty your beef is).
4.Stir relatively frequently and cook until vegetables are starting to get soft, about 10 minutes.
5.Add the meat back to the pot. Add the rosemary, bay leaf and thyme to the pot. Add broth, wine, and tomato paste.
6.Bring to a simmer on the stove top then cover and place in the oven.
7.Cook for 3 hours (or more). Enjoy!

I did this in the crock pot today, minus the tomatoes & wine and I didn’t have parsnips.
Browned the meat and onions then dumped it and cooked on high
for 8 hours. Kids loved it and it smelled like veggie & beef soup, yummy!!!

I only had a pound of grass fed beef so I cut the recipe by 2/3. Well I also cooked it for 3 hours and the liquid was gone and the stew was very dark. I was sick until we tasted it. Never have my husband and I had a stew that tasted better. I am going to do the full recipe and put it in the crock pot on low for 7 to 8 hours but this time with a chuck roast. I hope it is as good.

This is really good and smelled wonderful as it was cooking. Mine needed more liquid because it almost dried out, but still tasted wonderful. I would also add more veggies because I like a lot of them.

OK. Good to know. I did make it last night with regular coconut oil because that’s what I had on hand. I thought it turned out really good. Next time I will try the extra virgin coconut oil and will see if I notice a difference.

DeeLISH! I omitted the tomatoes, used spring water instead of broth, and white wine instead of red, AND I only had it in the oven for two hours (because I had a hungry kid to feed!) and it was STILL tender and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe – this one’s a keeper!

I’m starting on the AIP so will be making a version of this without the tomato paste, but using beets and adding in some butternut squash. I also have bison, but I think it is going to be a wonderful meal for my Instant Pot! Looking forward to dinner tonight!